Portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, smartphones, camera phones, cameras, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), etc., typically include output mechanisms to alert the user of certain events that occur with respect to the devices. For example, a cell phone normally includes a speaker for audibly notifying the user of an incoming telephone call event. The audible signal may include specific ringtones, musical ditties, sound effects, etc. In addition, cell phones may include display screens that can be used to visually notify the users of incoming phone calls. Furthermore, other sensory outputs can be presented to users via tactile actuators, vibration actuators, haptic feedback devices, etc.
Depending on a particular environment in which a user carries such a portable electronic device, some of the various types of notifications may be inappropriate. For this reason, conventional portable electronic devices are normally designed to allow the users to change notification settings as needed. For example, in a movie theater, a user can switch off the audible notification mechanisms in order to avoid noisy disruptions to others in the theater. Therefore, instead of an audible signal indicating an incoming phone call, a tactile sensation can be applied when the call is received. Although some developments have been made in the art of portable electronic devices to enable a user to manually set various notification mechanisms, further advancements and improvements in this regard can still be made.